Cape Ann

The first swim of the season

adamg — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 12:11:27 +0000

Acidgalore reports on her first ocean dunk of the year, a few days ago at Crane Beach, after a ritual that involves soaking up the sun on a hot day to get warm enough to brave the frigid waters north of the Cape, then slowly wading in, until:

... This is it. Head first I dive. It is an awkward move, because it's been almost a year since I last did it. The body gets submerged and a million sensations drive my brain wild. The body awakens, it is alive. I feel something that is unlike anything else. Surrounded by water, I feel so free and so happy I want to scream. Stupid underwater smile won't get off my face. I come up for a breath, I float, I swim. And for that minute there I feel happy. Happy that I live close to the sea, happy that I get to swim, and happy that this is only the start of the swimming season. B l i s s. ...

Sunset and clouds over Cape Ann

adamg — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:57:48 +0000

Steve Borichevsky shoots a sequence of photos.

He paints Cape Ann

adamg — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 15:14:39 +0000

Paul Frontiero posts photos of his paintings of Cape Ann seascapes, along with other interesting stuff he finds in Gloucester and environs.

Via Good Morning Gloucester.

Community Band Begins Seventy-sixth Year of Music

rockportlegionband — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:21:43 +0000

The Rockport Legion Band, an established community concert band founded in 1932, will begin its seventy-sixth year of music-making by holding a series of reading rehearsals at the Legion Hall on Beach Street, Rockport.* These rehearsals will begin on Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 7:30, and continue every Thursday evening until April 30.

Material will consist of music from the band's library, new music under consideration for programming, and a series of pieces from the turn of the Twentieth Century. The latter group includes rags, marches, galops, and popular songs from the period.

Foggy morning on Cape Ann again

adamg — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 12:32:33 +0000

Tom captures the moment.

Could the Big One hit Boston?

adamg — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 13:44:38 +0000

Little known fun fact: There are four areas in the U.S. considered to be at risk for potentially devastating earthquakes: the Pacific coast, southern Illinois and Missouri, Charleston, S.C. and Boston.

The main reason we should stop making fun of people who move to California is the Cape Ann Earthquake of 1755, which, Michael informs us, happened 250 years ago today:

In Boston, hundreds of walls and chimneys collapsed and fell to the ground. John Adams, one of many people who reported on the quake, noted that the tremors lasted for about four minutes. In Pembroke and Scituate chasms opened in the earth and sand reached the surface. Sailors on the sea felt as if the ships were striking land. The earthquake was felt from Lake George, New York to 200 miles east of the cape and from Chesapeake Bay to Montreal and Nova Scotia. ...

It also knocked the grasshopper off Faneuil Hall and, as Michael adds, was blamed on Benjamin Franklin, because God was expressing his ire at Franklin's attempt to stop divine lightning from smoting sinners with his newfangled lightning rods. Modern scientists estimate it between 6.0 and 6.3 on the Richter scale.

Also see:

The Cape Ann Earthquake of November 1755, by John Ebel, director of BC's Weston Observatory and a great person to be around during a major earthquake (because during a quake, Ebel wobble but he don't fall down).
Why does the Earth Quake in New England?
Stanford chuckles at the possibility of widespread devastation in Boston
Minor quake shakes Plymouth